


Pieces of Eight

by Manuscriptor



Series: Pirate AU [2]
Category: Cream Heroes (Youtube)
Genre: Angst, Cream Heroes, Gen, It doesn't end happy guys sorry, Mild Gore, Pirate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 08:10:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19169260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manuscriptor/pseuds/Manuscriptor
Summary: Lulu and Lala's hideout is ambushed by a rival pirate who's angry they've been pirating ships in his territory.can I make a fic with only one line from a video?yes, yes I can





	Pieces of Eight

Lulu clung to the mainsail and the rope in his paw that was attached to the huge beam of wood. The salt water wind of the storm ripped through his fur, plastering it to his cheeks and nearly blinding his eyes. He squinted the best he could, trying to figure out which figures were enemies and which were his own crew.

He saw a flash of white and focused on that, because that, he knew, was Lala.

“Give ‘em hell, boys!!” she yelled, firing her pistols into the sky. They flashed orange and banged like lightning, only adding to the chaos. “Drive ‘em back! Don’t let them take the hull!”

A scraggly cat missing chunks of his fur suddenly appeared out of the storm in front of Lulu, and he had enough sense to register that this cat wasn’t one of his own. He was missing his right front tooth and had a jagged scar over his nose and he was flailing twin rapiers that whipped through the wind, whistling through the air at Lulu’s head.

He ducked on pure instinct, kicking up and slamming his paw up into the cat’s gut.

The tom yowled as the wind was knocked out of him, and he collapsed on the deck. He didn’t lose grip on his swords, because he wasn’t stupid, but he was incapacitated. And that was really all Lulu needed. He darted away from the little protection the mainsail beam gave him and out into the open deck.

And was almost immediately blown overboard by the storm.

The wind almost ripped him off the deck and the only reason he wasn’t, was because he dug his claws into the wood. He had to duck under several more swords and knives as he worked his way across the deck. He laid back his ears against the blast of pistol shot and the crash of lightning and thunder. He would be deaf by the end of this.

“Make for the ropes!” Lala yelled somewhere off to his right. “Drop the boats and get for the main land!”

Lulu jerked up at the order and wiped salt water out of his eyes, squinting through the storm.

Even from where they were anchored—about a hundred yards off coast—he could see the fires lit at their normally peaceful hideout. The huge series of buildings were half-hidden in the thick forestry of the island and really, the only way someone could find it was if they knew what they were looking for. Normally, the fires were kept just as hidden as the rest of the place, out of sight from the prying eyes of bounty hunters and whatever Navy that hunted the heads of pirates. Now, though, now, the whole thing was alight with fire.

“Fall back!” he called over the wind, trying to get his men’s attention before they dropped the lifeboats. “Fall back! The hideout is unsafe!” He caught a tom trying to climb over the railing by the scruff of his neck and yanked him back into the fray. “Stay and fight! It’s our only chance!”

Lala must’ve seen what he had seen—their entire life’s work, treasure and buildings and all going up in smoke—because she gave a demonic screech and turned her pistols on the oncoming crowd of cats, emptying their barrels and then ripping her swords out of their sheaths. She threw herself headfirst into the wall of enemies and disappeared under a spitting ball of limbs and fur.

Lulu gulped and turned to the other advancing wall of cats that were waiting to tear him apart in the same way.

Lulu didn’t give them a chance to pounce.

He lunged forward, crossing swords with one tom and throwing him off. He cut another across the face and had to squint his eyes against the spray of blood. It was too quickly washed away in the rain though, and he was moving onto the next opponent. One cat, Lulu didn’t see who, got a lucky break through his defenses, and Lulu winced as a small knife embedded itself in his thigh.

He took a moment to rip it out, wincing at the stream of blood that followed. He threw it into the fight, not bothering to watch where it landed, before turning to the next cat that challenged him.

A tom took the opening and raked his claws down the side of Lulu’s face, opening his ear in what would heal to be a definite scar. Lulu didn't let that slow him down.

He twisted and plunged his sword through the cat's gut, leaving it where it sat. He grabbed the cat's own saber, taking it easier from his dead-limp paws and turning it on his comrades. He cut through two more cats before encountering any sort of problem.

They were wildly out numbered.

The attack on their hideout had come completely without warning. Lulu and Lala and their men had been celebrating a recent victory, drinking their fill and toasting the success of future heists. Lulu and Lala, unusual to their form, had been holding back a bit. While the _Wild Jelly-Bean_ was docked safely and their chests were stuffed with new gold, a storm had been brewing in the distance and they wanted to remain sharp.

It hadn't been just a storm.

And now, Lulu was up to his waist in carnage, swiping down another enemy and helping a crew member stand where he had fallen.

But they were outnumbered, and eventually, things were going to fall apart. They just fell apart a lot more quickly than Lulu anticipated.

He saw the flash of Lala's white fur, plaster with equal parts water and blood. He saw the flash of her pistols followed by a flash of lightning the briefly lit the frothing water around their ship.

A wave bigger than the rest hit the side of the _Wild Jelly-Bean_ , sending it listing dangerous to one side.

Lulu was thrown across the deck, not ready to catch his balance and paying for it when his stomach slammed into the railing. The breath was briefly knocked out of him but that wasn't the reason that Lulu gasped when he finally got his feet back under himself and turned.

The huge mountain of a cat loomed out of the shadow of the storm, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Though its fur was just as soaked and plastered down as Lulu's were, it didn't make it look any less small or less intimidating.

An eyepatch covered one of the tom’s eyes. The other glowed orange in the firelight of the lanterns.

The tom towered over Lulu, twice his size in both height and width. A black oilskin trench coat stretched across his wide shoulders, secured tight enough so that it didn’t snap in the wind. His whiskers were braided together, crusted with salt. Scars riddles his face, his ears marked up the most. At his waist, four pistols hung from a leather belt, and in his hand, his tattered claws digging into the hilt, was a huge Viking sword.

He didn’t smile. He didn’t crow in his victory, even though his men were very clearly taking the upper hand. He stared impassively down at Lulu, not even blinking.

For a moment, Lulu was certain that the tom wasn’t real, just a figment of his terrified imagination conjured by his anxiety and worst fears. He thought he could breathe easy for a moment, and then another wave crashed into the _Wild Jelly-Bean_ — _his_ ship, his _home_ —and the movement sent him sprawling onto the deck.

Right at the feet of this massive tom.

"Well, well, well."

The tom's voice rumbled up from deep in his chest, sounding almost like thunder as he took a single step forward to stare down his nose at Lulu. His grip shifted on his sword, and Lulu had enough of a chance to realize that the blade itself was roughly the same size as he was. He gulped.

“If it isn’t one of the _captains_ I’m looking for,” the tom said, and his lips curled back over his yellowed fangs.

"Pieces of Eight," Lulu managed to get out.

The sea cat was a bloodthirsty bastard, one of the most deadly to sail the current seas. "Pieces of Eight" DD Marooner, ruled over the entire Atlantic, claiming both the golden coasts of Africa and the spice-rich resources of South America. No other pirate captain dared to sail in his territory, much less try to take from his fleet of riches. To cross him meant death, and to attack a ship that flew his flag—a skull and crossbones with silver dollars for eyes—was the same fate.

DD stepped forward, thumping the end of his sword against the deck of the ship ominously. Even the storm had died down in his presence, the wind shrinking back to leave just to sheets of rain to pummel against Lulu's back.

"You've been running my routes," DD said, his voice a growl from the salty wind he breathed every day of his life. "Chasing my ships off course. Taking _my_ gold."

Lulu gulped and shook his head, scrambling back away from the huge tom.

"No! I swear we haven't! We've been careful not to cross any borders!"

"But my borders are expanding," DD said with a cruel laugh. "Always and forever. And I don't want _anyone_ near my ships."

Lulu didn't dare move, terrified that anything would set the cat off. His back was pressed right up against the railing, meaning that the sharp drop to the main deck was cutting off one exit. And DD blocked all others, the reach of his sword too great if Lulu tried darting around the left or the right. Lulu would probably be killed as an example, with Lala left to flee and tell the tale, if DD was thinking anything like Lulu would.

Sure enough, he hoisted his sword up, levelling it directly with Lulu's forehead.

"Your body will tell others not to make the same mistake," DD said, his single golden eye gleaming with bloodlust. "And your yellowed guts will feed the vultures just fine."

"Over my dead body!!"

Both Lulu and DD turned at the yell, and Lulu's heart soared as he saw Lala swinging to his rescue.

She had one of the mainsail ropes wrapped harness-like around one leg and thigh, clutching it with the hand on the same side. In her other hand, she held her pistol, eyes squinted against the rain as she aimed it at DD's head. With no other warning, she fired.

Lulu never would have guessed that such a huge cat could move so fast, but DD dropped to the deck faster than anything. The bullet still tore through his ear, splattering Lulu with blood as he used the chaos to scramble to his feet.

"Run!!" Lala yelled, unwinding the rope and vaulting to a cross beam. Her tail, though soaked with equal parts water and blood, kept her balance. "I've dropped the lifeboats. Head for starboard! The men are rowing out!"

Lulu didn't need to be told twice.

Lala fired off her pistols again, and while DD cowered near the deck, out of her range of sight, Lulu vaulted the railing. His paws hit the deck hard, and the impact rattled up his legs and into his chest. He didn't let the pain stop him. He ran for the starboard side, pausing only a moment at the railing to scan the dark, stormy waters below for the lifeboat. Once he spotted it, he jumped from the _Wild Jelly-Bean_ without abandon.

He crashed into the water, the cold knocking the breath out of him. He clawed for the surface and was scared that the storm would drive him down to a watery grave until hands grabbed his shirt and arms and hands, pulling him up to safety. He landed on his hands and knees on the bottom of the boat, coughing up salt water as his crew all patted his back and face to make sure he was breathing.

“Hoist the sail!” one cat, Lulu vaguely placed as Jack, said. “We need to get out of here!”

“Lala!” Lulu said between coughs. He pushed himself up and looked back to the _Wild Jelly-Bean_.

The ship was ablaze now, just like their hideout. It wasn’t nearly as consumed, but the hold near the front of the ship was definitely on fire and quickly spreading.

As Lulu watched, DD’s huge silhouette rose up behind the railing. His face came into view in the flickering flames, and Lulu was terrified that the tom would turn his pistols on them. Instead, he simply raised a fist to the sky, their own pirate flag flapping in his grasp. The twin cat skulls were obvious, even from this distance, and Lulu swallowed sharply as DD threw the flag to the flames.

The message was clear.

“Lala!!” Lulu yelled, desperate to find any sign of her in the smoke and chaos. His stomach sunk down to his feet.

She had become the example. He had escaped, and DD never let his prize escape. Lala must have sacrificed herself just to make sure Lulu made it to the lifeboats. He sobbed before he could compose himself, tears already streaming down his fur.

“We have to move, cap!” Jack called from the boats miniature mainsail as he tied the sails into place. “Can’t look back unless we want the same fate.”

With a jerk, the wind caught their sails and pulled them along, taking them to the safety of the open ocean. Though, just how safe it would be without provisions, food, or drink, they would soon found out. All they knew in the moment, was getting away from DD and his bloodthirsty crew.

An explosion on the _Wild Jelly-Bean_ caused one of the smaller beams to fall to the deck with a crash as the fire began eating away the sails. DD turned away from them, coldly surveying the damage before moving away from the railing and out of sight.

And just as he disappeared, a black and red figure threw itself from the railing, jumping wide through the air, paws clawing and already thrashing as it hit the water.

Lulu jerked upright, instinctive sniffing with his ears perked.

Lala broke the surface of the water was a gasp, the ocean already washing the black soot and red blood from her fur even as she began swimming for the boats fleeing the scene. She had lost her hat at some point as well as several chunks of fur, and a cut was bleeding down over her eye, but she swam strong and sure, making easy progress towards the lifeboats.

“There!” Lulu called. “Jack, pull us alongside! Slow us down a tick! She’s alive!”

His crew, the few that were on his lifeboat, jumped to follow orders. With the boat temporarily slowed down, Lala easily caught up and was hoisted into the boat same as Lulu. With her finally safe, Jack once again turned the ship to the open sea and continued their retreat.

Lulu jumped to Lala’s side, beating her back to help her cough up sea water.

“Are you okay?” he asked, even though it was obvious she wasn’t.

Lala shook her head anyway, not even pretending to be strong for her crew. She looked back over her shoulder, and Lulu followed her gaze.

Their entire hideout was consumed by flames at this point, and DD’s huge, five-masted schooner sat out in the bay, untouched, watching the destruction impassively. The _Wild Jelly-Bean_ was also in flames, cracked in half and slowly sinking beneath the waves. Not even the dying rain could save their home now, and Lulu grabbed Lala’s paw without thinking, giving it a squeeze.

DD’s own colors, the skull and crossbones with silver dollar eyes, was planted in the sand, far enough away from the flames that it wouldn’t catch and claiming the destruction as DD’s doing.

It would keep any cat away for a long, long time.

 

**Author's Note:**

> hey, I'm on tumblr @manuscript-or


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